Steam Winter Sale Begins December 22, Say Reports

The dates for the Steam Christmas Sale leak online, letting PC gamers know exactly how long they have to save up their pennies following an already busy holiday discount period.

Besides being home to thousands of games, if there’s one thing that Steam is famous for, it’s sales. In fact, part of the reason why Valve’s digital PC gaming platform is so popular with PC gamers is because it hosts huge blowout sales several times a year, with the Steam Autumn Sale ending earlier this week.

For those who couldn’t afford to splash their cash in the Autumn Sale, there’s good news on the horizon; according to reports, the Steam Winter Sale isn’t far off. This could give gamers a chance to save up some money to grab the bargains that will be on show.

A post on NeoGAF appeared to confirm that the Steam Winter Sale (also know as the Steam Christmas Sale) begins on December 22, and is set to end on January 2. The information revealed in the posting was then backed up by Eurogamer, which has “separately confirmed” these to be the dates.

Publishers and developers need to know these dates quite a long way in advance to figure out how heavily they want to discount their titles, so it seems reasonable that the information could somehow slip out this way. It should also be pointed out that last year’s Steam Winter Sale also began on December 22 and ended on January 4, so it would make sense for Steam to use a similar sales window again this year.

While it’s too early to speculate on specific discounts – especially as some developers and publishers may opt out if they took part in the Autumn Sale – it’s reasonable to assume that there will be a ridiculous amount of offers to choose from. The Autumn Sale slashed prices of over 12,000 titles, and if the Christmas Sale follows in its footsteps then gamers will be absolutely spoiled for choice.

Thankfully for indecisive consumers, the new Steam Discovery 2.0 update should prove to be a massive help. In addition to making the Steam Store more informative, the latest Steam makeover also promises more personalized game recommendations and appears to have been put in place because of the platform’s overwhelming choice.

The update also coincides with a new policy that sees that game pages must show images indicative of a true gameplay experience rather than concept art. That policy was created in response to the No Man’s Sky advertising controversy and will hopefully mean that those who do spend money on Steam – in sales or not – are able to do so with more confidence.